Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/18/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 2, 12, 13, 19, and 20 have been amended. No claims have been added or deleted. Claims 1-20 are subject to examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 1-3, 5-14, and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YANG et al. (YANG hereafter) (US 20220046688 A1) in view of Wang et al. (Wang hereafter) (US 20230156704 A1).
Regarding claim 1, claim 12, and claim 19, YANG teaches, A method, comprising:
receiving, by a User Equipment (UE), in a first Component Carrier (CC), a Downlink Control Information (DCI), the DCI scheduling a first Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in a second CC, and a second PDSCH in a third CC, the second CC and the third CC being different (YANG; when multi-CC/cell scheduling is configured, DCI on a PDCCH transmitted in a scheduling cell may include scheduling information for a plurality of CCs/cells configured for the multi-CC/cell scheduling (i.e., multi-CC DCI), Par. 0154), the DCI including a multi-carrier Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) (YANG; The multi-CC DCI may include DL scheduling information and/or UL scheduling information, and may be composed of DCI field Types (e.g., DCI field Type 1, Par. 0155; DCI field Type 1 may include time domain RA (TDRA) information, Par. 0104);
retrieving, based on the multi-carrier TDRA (YANG; TABLE 5; a new entry (pair) table/set may be configured for the purpose of multi-CC scheduling, such that two cells (e.g., cell 1 and cell 2) subject to multi-CC scheduling share a single field, Par. 0106), from a list stored by the UE, a TDRA for the first PDSCH and a TDRA for the second PDSCH (YANG; in the case of a TDRA table configured for indication of a TDRA field, for the PDSCH, a pair of entries each being {DCI-to-PDSCH timing (slot offset K0), PDSCH starting/length (SLIV), PDSCH mapping type (A or B)} (one entry for each of cell 1 and cell 2) are mapped to/configured for each state of the TDRA field, Par. 0108), the list being Radio Resource Control (RRC) configured to the UE, the list including allocation parameters associated with the multi-carrier TDRA index, the allocation parameters including at least one of (YANG; DCI field Type 1 refers to the type/information of a DCI field having each state mapped to information/a value configured by RRC signaling … DCI field Type 1 may include time domain RA (TDRA) information … HARQ-ACK timing (slot offset K1) information, Par. 0103-0104):
a PDSCH-to-physical UL control signal (PUCCH) timing (K1) (YANG; in the case of a K1 set configured for indication of an HARQ-ACK timing field, an entry pair {K1 for cell 1, K1 for cell 2} may be mapped to/configured for each state of the HARQ-ACK timing field, Par. 0109); or
a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (PDCCH-to-PUSCH) timing (K2); and
receiving, by the UE, the first PDSCH, using time domain resources for PDSCH reception based on a retrieved TDRA for the first PDSCH (YANG; Data may be transmitted and received in at least one of the plurality of CCs/cells based on the scheduling information in the multi-CC DCI, Par. 0154).
Although YANG teaches DCI field for TDRA, but failed to explicitly teach,
TDRA index.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches,
TDRA index (Wang; TDRA bit field in DCI applies to both Scell, Par. 0082).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YANG to include the use of bit field as taught by Wang in order to indicate TDRA (Wang; Par. 0082).
Specifically for claim 12, A User Equipment (UE) comprising: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of (YANG; UE, Par. 0155).
Specifically for claim 19, A User Equipment (UE) comprising: means for processing; and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the means for processing, cause performance of (YANG; UE, Par. 0155).
Regarding claim 2, claim 13, and claim 20, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 1, The UE of claim 12, and The UE of claim 19 respectively,
wherein a multi-carrier TDRA table is Radio Resource Control (RRC) configured to the UE by a network node (gNB) (YANG; TABLE 5; in the case of a TDRA table configured for indication of a TDRA field, for the PDSCH, a pair of entries … (one entry for each of cell 1 and cell 2) are mapped to/configured for each state of the TDRA field, Par. 0108); gNBs, Par. 0179).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 14, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 1 and The UE of claim 12 respectively, wherein:
the DCI further includes a K1 timing parameter (YANG; DCI field Type 1 may include … HARQ-ACK timing (slot offset K1) information, Par. 0104); and
the method further includes transmitting, by the UE, a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) corresponding to the first PDSCH and to the second PDSCH, a slot containing the PUCCH being determined, relative to a reference PDSCH of the first PDSCH and the second PDSCH, by the K1 timing parameter (Wang; Fig. 3A; if DCI includes N K1 respectively for N PDSCH groups, a reference PDSCH within each PDSCH group is determined, and HARQ-ACK of all PDSCHs within the same PDSCH group scheduled by the DCI is associated with the same K1 value and the slot/sub-slot for the reference PDSCH, Par. 0039).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YANG to include the use of reference PDSCH as taught by Wang in order to determine PUCCH (Wang; Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 5 and claim 16, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 3 and The UE of claim 14 respectively, wherein the reference PDSCH is the PDSCH, of the first PDSCH and the second PDSCH, having the latest ending symbol (Wang; The reference PDSCH can be determined according to … a PDSCH with last-ending symbol among PDSCHs scheduled by the multi-cell scheduling DCI, Par. 0041-0042).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Wang is the same as for Claim 3.
Regarding claim 6 and claim 17, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 3 and The UE of claim 14 respectively, wherein:
the first PDSCH is received, by the UE, on a CC associated with the first PDSCH;
the second PDSCH is received, by the UE, on a CC associated with the second PDSCH and having a higher CC index than the CC associated with the first PDSCH; and
the reference PDSCH is the first PDSCH (Wang; The reference PDSCH can be determined according to … a PDSCH with lowest or largest serving cell index among PDSCHs scheduled by the multi-cell scheduling DCI, Par. 0041-0051).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Wang is the same as for Claim 3.
Regarding claim 7 and claim 18, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 3 and The UE of claim 14 respectively, wherein:
the first PDSCH is received, by the UE, on a CC associated with the first PDSCH;
the second PDSCH is received, by the UE, on a CC associated with the second PDSCH and having a higher CC index than the CC associated with the first PDSCH; and
the reference PDSCH is the second PDSCH (Wang; The reference PDSCH can be determined according to … a PDSCH with lowest or largest serving cell index among PDSCHs scheduled by the multi-cell scheduling DCI, Par. 0041-0051).
Regarding claim 8, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein:
the DCI further includes a serving cell combination index (YANG; Fig. 9; The CIF is an x-bit field (e.g., x=3) of a PDCCH (i.e., DCI) and may be used to indicate the (serving) cell index of a scheduled cell, Par. 0095 & Wang; Table 1-4 provides all possibilities for the TDRA & CC combination for each K1 value, Par. 0099); and
the method further includes retrieving, based on the serving cell combination index, from a serving cell combination table stored by the UE, an identifier of the first CC and an identifier of the second CC (Wang; TABLE 1-2; With the CC combination indication, SLIVs for the indicated CCs are used for PDSCHs for each indicated CC. Therefore, for a serving cell i, only i-th SLIV which is configured for the serving cell i for each row in TDRA table belong to the set of SLIVs, Par. 0115).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YANG to include the use of CC combination indication as taught by Wang in order to determine cell identity (Wang; TABLE 1-2).
Regarding claim 9, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI further includes: a first Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) field for the first PDSCH; and a second FDRA field for the second PDSCH (YANG; DCI field Type 2 may include frequency domain RA (FDRA) information, MCS information, NDI/RV ... (two) individual fields may be configured for the respective cells, cell 1 and cell 2, Par. 0124-0125).
Regarding claim 10, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI further includes: a first redundancy value (RV) field for the first PDSCH; and a second RV field for the second PDSCH (YANG; DCI field Type 2 may include frequency domain RA (FDRA) information, MCS information, NDI/RV ... (two) individual fields may be configured for the respective cells, cell 1 and cell 2, Par. 0124-0125).
Regarding claim 11, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI further includes: a first Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) index field for the first PDSCH; and a second MCS index field for the second PDSCH (YANG; DCI field Type 2 may include frequency domain RA (FDRA) information, MCS information, NDI/RV ... (two) individual fields may be configured for the respective cells, cell 1 and cell 2, Par. 0124-0125).
Claim 4 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YANG -Wang in view of DIMOU et al. (DIMOU hereafter) (US 20240137933 A1).
Regarding claim 4 and claim 15, YANG -Wang teaches, The method of claim 3 and The UE of claim 14 respectively, wherein:
the DCI further includes a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) (YANG; DCI format 1_0 or 1_1 may include ... PUCCH resource indicator (PRI), Par. 0077-0082 & Wang; the multi-cell scheduling DCI format carrying … PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) for transmission of the HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to each of the scheduled PDSCH group, Par. 0035).
YANG -Wang failed to explicitly teach,
a symbol position of the PUCCH within the slot is determined by the PRI.
However, in the same field of endeavor, DIMOU teaches,
a symbol position of the PUCCH within the slot is determined by the PRI (DIMOU; the first downlink grant may include an indication. The indication may indicate an uplink channel resource indicator, such as a PRI. The indication may indicate a symbol timing between the first PDSCH transmission and a transmission of HARQ feedback associated with the first PUCCH transmission, Par. 0068).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YANG -Wang to include the use of PRI as taught by DIMOU in order to determine symbol timing (DIMOU; Par. 0068).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Prior art JIANG et al. (US 20240260053 A1) teaches in Fig. 6, plurality of PDSCHs are scheduled by DCI and DCI includes TDRA and K1 (Par. 0059, 0087).
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416